Illinois students will learn Native American history under a bill pending in Springfield

Megan Bang’s son graduated from high school in Evanston last May. He made headlines not for his achievements, but for being stopped from walking in the ceremony for what he wore.

“My son was the first male in our family to graduate from high school,” Bang said. “He has aunties and uncles who went to [Indian] boarding school and his grandpa, who was a boarding school survivor, was there. He would have seen his first grandson graduating from high school.”

Indian boarding schools were set up to eliminate Indigenous traditions and replace them with mainstream American culture.

At graduation, Bang’s son, who is Ojibwe and Navajo, added an eagle feather and traditional beading to his cap and gown to honor the elders of his family who survived those abuses. But he was told it was inappropriate at the ceremony.

“My son was torn up about it,” said Bang, who is part Ojibwe, a professor at Northwestern University and director of the Center for Native American Indigenous Research at the university. “He was like, ‘Mom, one of them was the security guard who I talked to all the time. They’re good people. They just have no idea.’ ”